[Westheim]

Over night, the Raccoons made a trade with the Thunder, acquiring LF/CF/1B Mal Phinazee (.262, 11 HR, 39 RBI) and $350k in cash for AAA SP Danny Vargas, a 25-year-old Nicaraguan that was so far down the depth chart he was barely relevant.

Now, this was a steal on paper. While Phinazee (who replaced Jordan Gonzalez on the roster), a lefty hitter, had a somewhat hostile scouting report, he usually hit above league-average, and the 11 homers were more than any Raccoon had put together so far. He also had tremendous speed, yet only eight stolen bases. Given that we were mostly looking for a backup replacement, trading for him was almost overkill, but then again he was a steal, right?

Kinda. The problem was the 6-year deal the Condors had signed him to before the 2042 season, of which we took on roughly $6.6M. How to deal with the three years remaining on that contract (all guaranteed) was something I’d gladly figure out after he’d help us win some rings.

Raccoons (41-26) @ Canadiens (35-35) – June 20-22, 2044

While the Raccoons were second in runs scored in the CL, the damn Elks were in first, the difference being a meaty 27 runs by now. However, the damn Elks were also conceding the most runs, an exact five per game, and had a -7 run differential, which didn’t sound too much like they were heading for the playoffs. For the Raccoons, who were up 4-2 in the season series, the main mantra was to not get swept in the 3-game set, but actually taking two out of three again wouldn’t be so bad.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (7-4, 3.33 ERA) vs. Alexander Lewis (4-5, 4.67 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (4-2, 5.00 ERA) vs. David Arias (5-4, 3.81 ERA)
Corey Mathers (7-2, 2.81 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (4-4, 3.78 ERA)

The series would see matching handedness for the two starting pitchers in every game, with a southpaw duel on Monday only.

Mal Phinazee arrived in Elk City only an hour before game time an was barely put in uniform before the first pitch, so he was not in the lineup, and against the left-handed Lewis wouldn’t have been anyway in all likelihood. He was available off the bench though. Me, of course, I wasn’t in Elk City at all. I had a night out with Honeypaws, going down to the nearest sports bar to get boozed out in the company of strangers while watching the game blare on TV.

Game 1
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Zarate – 3B Jimenez – 2B Carreno – P Okuda
VAN: 3B Malkus – C Clemente – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – RF C. Robinson – LF J. Becker – 1B M. Hernandez – SS Riquenes – P A. Lewis

Okuda walked a guy in both of the first two innings, but at least struck out Jerry Outram, that monster, and got Dan Schneller, little less the monster, on a pop, to strand Travis Malkus in scoring position. The Raccoons had nothing much the first time through, while I held on to a beer, preferring to glide into my daily alcoholism gently, while Honeypaws went straight for the hard liquors. The guy next to me, a ruffled looking gentleman with an eye patch and a broad-brimmed hat that seemed to be perpetually moist despite us being inside for hours, commended me on my very pretty stuffed toy raccoon, and was impressed how eagerly he was lapping up the “Major Thornton’s Throat Burner” he had been served. Seeking to be polite, I commended him on his nice, uh, hat. At that point, Matt Waters reached and was moved around on 2-out singles by Maldo and Manny, scoring for a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Toohey also singled up the middle and Maldo went around from second base, but was thrown out by Outram to end the inning. The Elks tied it up again right away, Okuda nailing Malkus, Waters dropping a pop by Timóteo Clemente, and then singles with two outs by Schneller and Chris Robinson. Bases choked, Justin Becker flew out to Maldo, keeping it 1-1 through three, but Okuda was already on 65 pitches, most of them useless. The run on him was unearned, which did console me not.

Five innings would be all we got from Okuda, who never got into a groove, despite only allowing three actual base hits and five walks, the last of those being intentional to Justin Becker to load the bases in the bottom 5th and get Mel Hernandez to the plate. He flew out easily to Toohey on Okuda’s 103rd pitch, which was well enough for one messy Monday in the frozen wastes of the North. He settled for a no-decision, no help coming forward in the sixth inning, and by now I also wanted some of that Throat Burner. Honeypaws recommended it, being on his fifth glass. Jon Craig had a clean sixth for Portland, while between Ramirez and Kelly the seventh was anything but. Outram doubled off the former with one out, and Schneller walked. Kelly came on with alternating bats at this stage, but left-hander Chris Robinson up next. He walked him, too, but then with three on and one out struck out both Becker and Johnny Lopez.

Manny hit a leadoff single in the eighth, but was doubled off by Toohey, a feat matched by Clemente in the bottom 8th, who hit into an inning-killing 6-4-3 with Victor Vazquez and Arnout van der Zanden having singled in the 9-1 holes, the latter off Nate Norris, who also got the double play. But to my dismay, the Raccoons continued to be unable to score. Carreno drew a walk off Sebastien Parham in the ninth, but was stranded by Kilmer and Waters. Norris then lost the game in the bottom of the ninth, walking Outram on four pitches to get going. Schneller struck out, but Outram rushed for third base on Robinson’s single, and slid home safe before Waters could fire home on Becker’s soft grounder to short. 2-1 Canadiens. Fernandez 2-4, RBI; Toohey 2-4; Jimenez 2-3;

Honeypaws paid the tab for both him, me, and our eye-patched friend, and then we tumbled home to cry ourselves to sleep.

Game 2
POR: 1B Ayala – CF Phinazee – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – SS Waters – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – P Wheatley
VAN: 1B van der Zanden – 3B Malkus – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Ju. Diaz – RF J. Becker – LF M. Hernandez – SS Price – P D. Arias

After spending half the day driving across town aimlessly to source some of Major Thornton’s Throat Burner, I eventually had them deliver to the ballpark and picked up a gallon of the sweet juice from there. It was not sold in stores, and they didn’t deliver to private persons, only to businesses. Well, the Raccoons were a business alright, albeit a weird one. They were also behind 1-0 in the first inning on an unearned run, although Wheatley had fumbled Ayala’s feed himself to allow Outram on base, and the monster scored on a Schneller double without troubles. Julio Diaz struck out before it could get really ugly.

The Raccoons had no hits the first time through. Arias walked Phinazee in his first start for the team – he had popped out as pinch-hitter late on Monday – but he was doubled up by Maldonado in the first inning. Phinazee drew a leadoff walk for another try in the fourth, and this time Maldo hit the bouncer past the middle infielders for a single. Manny forced him out with a grounder up the middle, but Toohey walked to load the bases with one out. Waters struck out on three pitches, which didn’t help, and Kilmer grounded to short for – a throwing error by Rick Price that was worth two bases and as many runs, flipping the score. Whatever ******* works. (pours himself and Honeypaws another shot of Throat Burner) Carreno was walked intentionally and Wheatley hit a liner – but right at Price to end the inning.

At least Wheats was doing fundamentally alright, defensive shortcomings aside. He allowed three hits and eight strikeouts, no walks, through five, and only took 65 pitches for it. A bit more offense would help, but was not an option. And when the dam broke, it broke damn quickly. Outram eeked out a 2-out walk in the bottom 6th. Schneller did the same. Diaz singled through the right side on 3-1, Outram dashed for home plate, and slid in safe, but also rammed his arm and leg into Jeff Kilmer’s stern knee and was replaced defensively by the following inning. Wheats struck out Becker after a stern talking-to on the mound, but the lead was gone, and he wouldn’t get another one, nothing getting together in the top of the seventh. The pen scrambled to maintain the 2-2 tie, with Jones and Moreno both moving around runners in scoring position in their innings in the seventh and eighth, respectively. Juan Dias pitched for Vancouver in the ninth. Waters and Kilmer were retired before Carreno got hold of a hanger and hit the baseball back to the States to break the tie! Jimenez grounded out in Moreno’s spot, which was taken over by Josh Rella anyway. Becker and Lopez grounded out against Rella to begin the ninth, and Price went down on strikes. 3-2 Blighters. Carreno 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;

Honeypaws, my head hurts. I’ll just go to sleep here on – (fades onto Honeypaws)

Game 3
POR: 1B Ayala – CF Phinazee – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – SS Waters – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – P Mathers
VAN: 1B van der Zanden – RF C. Robinson – CF Riquenes – 2B Schneller – C Ju. Diaz – LF V. Vazquez – 3B Malkus – SS Price – P Godinez

Godinez was in trouble in the second inning, hitting Toohey to begin the frame, walking Waters, and then bailed out by also drilling Kilmer, which gave the Critters three on and nobody out, and automatically made me open the next bottle of Throat Burner. Carreno got a grounder up the middle and past Schneller for an RBI single, and for a positive surprise another RBI single was looped into shallow center on the first pitch by Mathers, 2-0. Ayala ran a full count before whacking a 2-run wallbanger, and Phinazee plated Mathers with a groundout, his first RBI as a Raccoon (still looking for a hit, though). Maldo’s sac fly made it 6-0 and emptied the bases. Well, Honeypaws, that’s what I call a big one!

While Mathers shut the Elks down in the bottom of that inning, he ran into two scratch singles and a Robinson jack to right in the third, so that was half the lead gone in a 6-3 game. The Coons would compensate somewhat in the fifth with a solo homer by Toohey, his ninth of the year, and thus establishing slam distance in the rubber game, but Carreno was on base in the fourth and sixth, stole second both times, and never found a pick-me-up and was stranded both times. Mathers meanwhile settled down after the rude assault by Robinson in the third inning and held the Elks to five hits and three runs through seven innings, throwing 104 pitches, also known as – enough. Also, Honeypaws, I think I’ve had enough of this Throat Burner. – Because my throat burns.

The Elks scratched Zack Kelly for a run in the eighth, Julio Diaz driving in Robinson, who had drawn a walk, with two outs. Vazquez struck out, though. Rick Price hit a 1-out double against Rella in the ninth, but Clemente popped out and van der Zanden lined out softly to Maldonado to give the game away to the Raccoons…! 7-4 Critters. Carreno 2-3, BB, RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Mathers 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (8-2) and 1-3, RBI;

The Titans lost two of three to the Indians, so the Raccoons gained a game on both of their relatively close competitors during this set!

Raccoons (43-27) @ Thunder (34-37) – June 24-26, 2044

We were up 2-1 on the Thunder this year, which was also the place we had gotten Mal Phinazee from four days earlier. They were fifth in the South, out by double digits by now, and somehow still fourth in runs scored *and* runs allowed. Something didn’t add up here, given their +41 run differential (Coons: +66), which should not have them sitting three games under .500, so we had to be watchful here…!

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (6-6, 4.01 ERA) vs. Juan Ramos (5-6, 3.51 ERA)
Jake Jackson (5-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (2-1, 2.09 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (7-4, 3.14 ERA) vs. Natanael Abrao (4-3, 3.21 ERA)

Right, left, right. Marquez was a rookie that had been washed into the rotation by injuries, but who was doing really well, throwing four pitches, all good, and getting groundballs, too. He had a top 3 defense behind him, which helped out for sure. The Thunder were without a pile of players, including Lachlan Clarke, Jesus Adames, and Brad Simon. The Raccoons listed Alex Ramirez as day-to-day; the right-hander felt unwell upon arrival in Oklahoma City, but it wasn’t thought of as anything major, and were coming off an off day on Thursday, so should be able to go a day or two without him.

Game 1
POR: 1B Ayala – CF Phinazee – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – SS Waters – C Zarate – 2B Carreno – P Clark
OCT: RF Zurita – 3B Lusk – 1B Tortora – SS Ban – LF E. Moore – C Weese – CF J. Reyna – 2B Martell – P J. Ramos

The Coons scored first on a Matt Waters homer in the second inning, a solo job to left-center. Clark hit a double in the third, and was eventually joined on the bases by Phinazee (walk) and Maldo (nicked), with two outs, but Manny’s grounder to second base got the Thunder out of the jam. That was almost it for offense - neither team had more than two hits in the first five frames. Clark fumbled the lead in the sixth, walking Cullen Tortora an allowing a double to Jonathan Ban, all with one out. Ethan Moore’s sac fly got the Thunder level, but at least Kevin Weese grounded out to third base. Clark’s winning streak ended the inning after that, with a leadoff double by Jonathan Reyna, and a single by PH Dick Oshiita that gave the Thunder the lead. Oshiita was bunted to third, then scored on Angelo Zurita’s sac fly, 3-1 Thunder. Carreno singled in the eighth for only the third Coons hit on the day, but was forced out on Jose Cruz’ grounder, and Cruz was doubled up by Ayala. The Thunder added an eighth-inning run on Zack Kelly, who retired nobody and left with three on and nobody out. Craig got a double play grounder from Weese, which scored Tortora from third base. Not that it mattered – Jesse Allison struck out Phinazee, Maldonado, and Fernandez in order in the ninth. 4-1 Thunder.

So, does that mean Clark will lose six in a row again now?

Game 2
POR: SS Waters – 2B Carreno – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – CF Phinazee – 3B Jimenez – LF Pellicano – P Jackson
OCT: RF Zurita – C E. Stedham – CF Tortora – 2B C. Vega – SS Ban – LF E. Moore – 1B Peck – 3B Lusk – P V. Marquez

Waters drew the leadoff walk, but doubled up by Carreno, and the Raccoons commenced the sucking from there, while the Thunder almost knocked out Jackson in the second inning. Carlos Vega hit an infield single. Ban hit a slightly more proper single. And Ethan Moore romped a 3-piece to left. And they loaded the bases with two outs even after that, until Cullen Tortora struck out hacking on a bad 2-2 pitch. Moore hit another homer in the bottom 3rd, this time a 2-piece with only Ban on base. So, that game was over then.

Toohey reached 10 homer with a solo piece to left in the fourth inning, and Kilmer doubled and scored on a Jimenez single after that, but I had no faith in the bunch. Besides, Jackson was knocked out in the bottom of the inning, giving up singles to Zurita and Tortora, which made for 10 hits in 3.1 innings, most of them loud. Chuck Jones struck out Vega and got a grounder from the switch-hitting Ban, gave up a double to righty Kyle Lusk in the bottom 5th, but struck out Marquez, so no harm was done. Then came the sixth and the middle of the order at least kept trying. Toohey led off with a double behind Tortora, then scored on Kilmer’s single in front of Tortora, 5-3. Kilmer advanced on Tortora’s throw home, then reached third when Phinazee, still hitless as a Raccoon, grounded out. The out that really hurt was Jimenez’ K, which Pellicano promptly imitated, stranding Kilmer at third base.

Jones got one more out in the sixth, with five outs by Moreno after that, all without allowing another run, but the offense couldn’t pick it up against Marquez again. The rookie lasted seven innings before replaced with right-hander Brad Blankenship after 115 pitches. Maldo grounded out to begin the eighth, but Toohey homered to right, narrowing the gap to a single run. Kilmer and Phinazee were retired, though. Norris’ scoreless eighth kept it tight, but the Raccoons brought the bottom of the order against righty Allison in the ninth inning. Cruz hit for Jimenez and singled past John Peck to put the tying run aboard. Manny hit for the pitcher in the #8 hole, whacked a ball to center, and it fell for a double, moving Cruz to third base. Tying and go-ahead runs on there, no outs, and I was really interested to find out how they’d scatter this one away. Ayala was already in the #9 slot, fell to 2-2, but then knocked a ball up the middle and past Carlos Vega…! Cruz in, Manny coming around, the throw by Tortora was late, and the Raccoons took the lead …! Waters then forced out Ayala with a grounder to second, was caught stealing, and Carreno whiffed, so that momentum dissipated in a hurry, getting in Josh Rella with no cushion against the 4-5-6 batters. Vega singled sharply to right, but Ban spanked one right at Carreno for two …! Jimmy Kuhn struck out, evening the series. 6-5 Critters. Toohey 3-4, 2 HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Kilmer 2-4, 2B, RBI; Jimenez 2-3, RBI; Cruz (PH) 1-1; Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Ayala 1-2, 2 RBI; Jones 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Norris got the W, Rella got his 20th save, and the Raccoons got away with a truly ****** start by Jackson…

Game 3
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – 3B Cruz – C Kilmer – 2B Gutierrez – P Okuda
OCT: RF Zurita – C E. Stedham – 1B Tortora – CF C. Vega – SS Ban – LF E. Moore – 3B Lusk – 2B Kuhn – P Abrao

Waters whacked a leadoff double off the wall in left and scored on two productive outs, while Okuda allowed no hits in three innings before a 30-minute rain delay was sure to miss him up as it began to get wet in this rubber game. By that time the Raccoons were even up 4-0, even though all the tack-on runs were unearned in the third inning. Jimmy Kuhn mishandled an Ayala roller with two outs an nobody on, after which the Critters broke out straight singles from Toohey, Manny, Maldo, and Cruz, the last three all driving home one run, before Kilmer struck out in a full count. When play resumed in the fourth, Omar Gutierrez led off with a single, stole second, and scored with two outs on an Ayala homer to right, 6-0.

But OF COURSE the rain had messed up Okuda. Two singles and a Cruz error gave the Thunder runners on the corners withw outs in the bottom 4th, since Vega had been caught stealing in between. Then the Thunder rapped off hits. Moore singled home a run, Lusk singled, Kuhn walked, Reyna singled, and a wild pitch to Zurita – three runs in total before Zurita grounded out. All runs were unearned, but Okuda continued to be adrift at sea in the fifth. Vega singled, Gutierrez’ error added Ban with two outs, and Moore hit a deep romp to left – and Manny snatched it at the fence to end the inning…!

Okuda somehow erred through the sixth without exploding, then was put away for the day, still up 6-3, somehow. We pieced it together with the pen from here, getting the seventh from Jon Craig, and the eighth between Ramirez and Kelly. Top 9th, Ray Thune walked Ayala with one out, then gave up a soft single to Toohey. Manny whipped a single to center, and Ayala got a great read and scored easily from second base. The remaining runners advanced into scoring position on Vega’s throw to home plate. Maldo was walked intentionally to get that double play set up. Zarate hit for Cruz and struck out, but Kilmer floated an RBI single into shallow right. Gutierrez grounded out, stranding three, but at least that kept Kelly in the game for the bottom 9th. He struck out Zurita, but Ed Stedham singled. Tortora got the catcher forced out with a comebacker, and Vela shambolically grounded out on a 3-0 pitch to end the game. 8-3 Raccoons! Toohey 2-5, RBI; Fernandez 3-5, 2 RBI; Cruz 2-4, RBI; Kilmer 2-5, RBI; Okuda 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, W (8-4); Kelly 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

In other news

June 21 – The Pacifics lose OF Juan Benavides (.370, 5 HR, 21 RBI) for a month again, this time to a torn thumb ligament.
June 22 – The Blue Sox score in every inning they get a chance to in a 14-2 home win over the Buffaloes, but the riches are well spread out for them, with no Nashville player having more than three hits, three RBI, or three runs scored.
June 24 – Washington RF/LF Eduardo Avila (.307, 7 HR, 43 RBI) will miss a month with torn ankle ligaments.
June 25 – TIJ LF/RF Narciso Gouveia (.167, 0 HR, 1 RBI) goes 1-for-6 in his first game of the season for the Condors, but is the hero when he hits a fielder’s choice grounder to short that allows Jesus Matos (.266, 7 HR, 28 RBI) to score from third base and end an 18-inning marathon with the Loggers in a 4-3 walkoff win for Tijuana.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 1B Manny Liberos (.256, 6 HR, 43 RBI), hitting .429 (9-21) with 1 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.344, 15 HR, 49 RBI), mashing .440 (11-25) with 4 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

In an effort to create confusion, both teams used their Jon Craig relievers at the same time on Sunday. Due to the early onslaught and our Jon Craig holding up, we didn’t get to the point where both the winning and losing pitcher of the game would have been a Jon Craig. If such a thing should ever happen, I’d hope for a Raccoons rally though.

The other, cheaper but worse, option or another outfielder would have been Mike Aguirre, who was on waivers by the Loggers on Sunday, but was more of an infielder than an outfielder, even though he could be plugged into most positions. Up by six, we were sniffing an opening for the playoffs and went with Phinazee instead.

…and then Phinazee promptly went 0-for-15 (with four walks), which surprised absolutely nobody.

Everything is good.

Next week: more road games with the Condors and Titans, and then we’ll already be in July.

Fun Fact: Pablo Gonzalez of the Rebels has a triple crown in his sights.

He leads the FL in batting average (.356) and RBI (64), but lacks two homers on league leader Eddie Moreno’s 19.

The last triple crown winner in the FL was Phil Harrington, three times, but that was of course a pitching triple crown. The last batter to win a triple crown in the FL was Danny Santillano of the Miners, batting .360 with 34 HR and 105 RBI in 2030.